Published 1:51 pm, Monday, April 8, 2013

Cypress Creek meanders through Meyer Park, creating a nature preserve residents and parks leaders hope can become part of a network of recreational and natural habitats along the 40-mile stretch.

Cypress Creek meanders through Meyer Park, creating a nature preserve residents and parks leaders hope can become part of a network of recreational and natural habitats along the 40-mile stretch.

Photo: Thomas Nguyen, Freelance

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Residents living along the Cypress Creek corridor in northwest Harris County want a connected series of parks and trails to improve recreation options and preserve home values, residents told parks leaders at a series of open house events.

"The benefits of having Cypress Creek connected with other parks by trails would be personal (to us) in enjoying it, but personal also in preserving home value. Hopefully it's a dual benefit," Ramirez said.

Fitzgerald said the recreational benefits, such as walking the trails and birdwatching, were of great value.

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Up the creek

Marsh Darcy Partners and CDS Market Research have been researching the benefits of connectivity in partnership with the Houston Parks Board, through a grant from the Houston-Galveston Area Council. Based on information provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Highway Administration, the Harris County Appraisal District and the Texas Transportation Institute, there are a number of amenities near the Cypress Creek Greenway that would better connect the people and the various communities.

Those include:

1Civic centers1Entertainment facilities

1Health care facilities1Religious institutions

1Recreational facilities1Schools

"I am really excited about this and I'd like to be involved," she said. "I'd like to see it happen."

The Cypress Creek Greenway stretches about 40 miles from Spring Creek just north of Bush Intercontinental Airport, to west of U.S. 290 into Waller County.

The parks board partnered with CDS Market Research and Marsh Darcy Partners, who are examining the economic benefits and environmental health benefits in connecting Cypress Creek with the existing parks and trails from the confluence of Spring Creek to U.S. 290 in Cypress.

Sue Darcy, president of Marsh Darcy Partners in Katy, explained the map of existing green space along Cypress Creek and why these and other green spaces should be connected.

"There is a lot of reason to connect these people to access these parks, so they can get on the trail, and they can exercise," she said.

Based on their study, slightly more than 208,000 people live within a mile and a half along the 40-plus mile stretch of Cypress Creek.

Along with those 208,000 residents, Darcy said there are also businesses, churches and schools that would benefit from the connectivity.

Thomason, who serves on the stakeholder advisory group for the Cypress Creek Greenway, said the group has been hopeful for open house events like these to help spread the word.

"This is a win all the way around," Thomason said. "With opportunities like this, we can jump in with both feet and be part of the process."

Meanwhile, Darcy said connecting the trails with all of the parks in the area, would provide a small bump in property values of about 5 percent for homeowners living within that mile and a half boundary, but that the value to those who'd use the trail system would be tremendous.

"The trails would be a high value to those people," she said. "Everybody seems to definitely recognize that there is a property value bump to this that's going to happen. Of course, the use of the trails will grow as the population grows."

Derryl York, an avid bicyclist, uses many of the trails in The Woodlands, and would like to see the trails of Cypress Creek connected, so he can ride a bit closer to home, as well as ride safely by staying off Houston roadways.

"Riding the trails would be so much more of a relief than trying to ride on the streets around here," York said. "I think if these are built right, they will add a lot of value to the area."

York said if the issue to connect the parks were put before the voters, that he's sure it would pass, "because people vote for amenities."

In order to achieve connectivity of green spaces and parks, land along the corridor would have to be obtained.

Some that is already under the control of the Harris County Flood Control District, but some of it also falls under the jurisdiction of various municipal utility districts, subdivisions or home owners associations.

"There are a lot of different ways we can make this happen," Thomason said.

Robert Thomas, who serves on the Westador Municipal Utilities District in Spring, said the entity might consider donating property it owns along Cypress Creek, if the greenway representatives make the "right proposal."

"We may be interested in donating the property or maybe even paying a little money toward it," Thomas said.

Westador MUD owns a small portion of land - about three acres, Thomas estimates - that could probably be used as a parking area, or to even add a few park benches and picnic tables.

"If they don't try and gold-plate this, it won't take a lot of money," Thomas said. "It depends on what they want to do."

The Cypress Creek Greenway study is expected to conclude by the end of April.

Once it is concluded, the results will be submitted to the Houston Parks Board and the H-GAC for review.